How I use statement credits to stretch my holiday shopping budget

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The average shopper will spend $890 on holiday gifts and supplies this year, but I plan to spend a bit more than that. I have two teenagers to buy for, after all, along with a spouse and a gaggle of nieces, nephews, and other family members on my list.

While I pay into a holiday savings account each month throughout the year, I stretch my annual holiday shopping budget further using credit card statement credit offers. This is the time of year when these credits really pull their weight.

Not to be confused with merchant offers like Amex Offers and Chase Offers, which get you a discount or bonus points on eligible purchases once you activate them, statement credits are specific benefits that often reset multiple times a year, on a monthly, quarterly, or semiannual basis. They’re generally tied to specific retailers, like the Amex Platinum Saks and Lululemon credits.

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• Lululemon credits: My teenage girls live in Lululemon shorts and leggings, so using this $75 quarterly statement credit is a breeze. I used the Q3 and Q4 credits from 2025 to buy each of my kids a pair of Align leggings, which are $98 each.
• Resy statement credits: I use the Resy statement credits on my Amex Platinum (and my Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card) to go out to dinner and buy gift cards. So far, I have $40 in gift cards to my favorite local eatery (Outlaws Steaks Burgers Brews) to give this holiday season, which were entirely free for me.
• Saks Fifth Avenue credits: My Amex Platinum comes with a $50 biannual statement credit for Saks Fifth Avenue, which I used to buy some small stocking stuffers (lip gloss) for my kids this year.

• StubHub statement credits: The Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers a $150 StubHub credit twice each year, and I used the credit on both my card and my husband’s to buy 2026 concert tickets. These tickets were surprisingly cheap for the resale market, and they are part of my kids' holiday gift haul. (Don't tell them!)

• Giftcards.com statement credit: The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business offers $100 in GiftCards.com credits each year, split into $50 from January through June and $50 from July through December. I used the most recent credit for a $50 gift card to Olive Garden that I’ll be gifting.

In total, that’s more than $500 toward my holiday shopping. And with Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals still to come, merchant offers on my various cards could rack up even more savings for me.

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Regardless of how much you plan to spend on holiday shopping this year, don't forget to take stock of credit card statement credits you can use.

You can do this by making a list of cards you have and writing out all the statement credit offers they come with. And make sure you note which statement credits require enrollment; don’t just assume you’re opted in.

From there, look for ways to strategically use statement credits to cover gifts, gift cards or both.

You can also save on the holidays by redeeming rewards for gifts. Just keep in mind that non-travel redemptions are often less valuable, and in many cases worth less than 1 cent per point.

There are exceptions, however. For example, several major card issuer programs (like Capital One and Chase) offer a handful of gift card redemptions that are worth more than 1 cent per point/mile in value. You may also run into special promotions for merchandise redemptions across different card issuer programs throughout the year.

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